Schimanski's father told NBC New York Tuesday that his son told him by phone that he and a friend planned to ride their bikes on Budd Lake in Mount Olive. When the father heard helicopters and saw the news reports, he rushed down to the lake.

Friends of the two boys brought flowers and lit candles at a makeshift memorial outside Budd Lake Chapel Tuesday night.

Police began searching for the boys after several 911 calls came in reporting screams for help coming from the lake in Mount Olive Township shortly before 6:30 p.m.

One of the 911 callers, William Hardy, who lives across the lake, said he heard cries and went to the lake in the dark to investigate.

Hardy ventured onto the ice to locate the voices but could not safely get far enough to reach them.

"I took the flashlight and walked out about 800 feet," he said. "They're still another 100 feet in front of me, the ice is cracking. I can see a cell phone, I can still hear them. They're still talking to me and then the firefighters came."